We need them all starting. Especially Graham. Walton Nyambe Lenihan Adarabioyo Williams Evans Travis Armstrong Holtby Downing Graham

Nyambe cant cross though so not sure wing back suits him. That formation doesnt suit us as we have no back up at CB plus Williams and Lenihan are really poor on the ball so its difficult to play out from the back. Think we should stick to 4 at the back, either 4231 with Holtby off Graham or 433 with 3 from Travis, Evans, Johnson, Holtby and if we can sign a LB, Downing.

But he will be on substantial wages. He obviously would have to go to a worse team but smaller teams would not be able to afford his wages. If there was any chance of being able to get any money for him wed be foolish not too.

And its not like Wigan won one away game last season!

Very optimistic. I am not even convinced that we could shift them if we didnt ask for a free, as Gallagher will be right up there with our highest earners, not befitting for the striker with the worst strike rate in the League. And Brereton might not be on as much but he wont be on peanuts and the sides who would want him wouldnt be able to match it. They were bought as profitable assets but are actually liabilities.

We played it at Sheffield United and lost to the same score.

Preston have permanently signed Scott Sinclair. Excellent signing and one showing ambition. Would have loved him here.

Do you think we will sign a winger, keeper, cb and lb? Do you think we have a chance of the play offs without signing anyone? What has happened to Schmidt?!

Agreed on Jones, but Armstrong lacks the intelligence to play up front, forever offside and for me best on the right. I would like to see Jones left, Armstrong right, and obviously as our only competent striker, Graham up top, and play Holtby as a number 10.

Theres absolutely no chance whatsoever that we sign 4 players this window, especially enough to improve us. Armstrong might get a few, but he did in the first half of the season and we still are well down the goals for column even with Dack. They are on 15 between them, he wont score 15 more on his own. The goals just arent there. Our strikers aside from the ageing Graham are the worst collection in the league, no doubt in Gallagher, Brereton and Samuel.

Out of interest, what would you make if we did sign him? (Which I doubt, would be surprised to see us sign anyone) I know you repeatedly dismiss the quality of the SPL and also dont think we need any attacking players. For what its worth, a natural winger is needed IMO and I have seen Jones a few times, and he is a good player. I would much prefer him permanently though.

9 goals and 6 assists in 21 games. In 211 games in the League, 52 goals and 76 assists. West Brom have loads of players that score and assist. Phillips, Diangana, Pereira, Austin etc. We have/had Dack.

Yeah I agree. If we hadnt have blown so much money on Brereton and Gallagher I wouldnt have been against hitting his buy out clause which would have reduced the inevitable competition once he is on a free. If he had a bad reputation and hadnt have been still so regular in his goal contributions recently then maybe not but if he does have a bad reputation then its not stopping him from performing.

I dont know how much substance there is to the bad attitude rumours, although didnt Dack have a similar image? The question you ask yourself is, do you want a player with a "bad attitude" who consistently contributes with goals and assists or a player like Bennett with a "good attitude" who doesnt contribute anything?

Evans playing alongside Travis is far from the weakest part of our team to be fair. Evans has shown competence there, whereas we are lacking up front, in net, at left back and then at centre back and out wide. Central midfield is potentially our strongest area! To be fair, we shouldnt have gone near either player. Both dreadful!

Walton is nowhere near the best, closer to being one of the worst. Dack or Downing although the former will be ruled out in terms of winning it across the season.

Definitely agree on the strangeness and costliness of the Brereton deal. But you are massively limiting yourselves when you are so keen to sign players you have worked with or know from the past. They tend to be the type of signings you make when you just have taken over a side and need 1 or 2 that you can trust to help to rebuild. 3 years in we should be far more creative and proactive than that. Signing Gallagher sums up Mowbrays transfer limitations, a poor player who hasnt improved us but of course has played for Mowbray in the past. He said last year that he was interested in Lucas Joao, a player who ended up being dropped under him last time!

Dont get why these conversations waited until January to be honest, if we are dependant on shipping players out especially in Mulgrews case one already out on loan it would have surely been a better plan to have these discussions and finalise any potential permanent move in advance of the window. Poor planning. Mowbray doesnt seem to see transfer business as an urgent matter based on those quotes, downplaying expectations. But he does mention players settling in which is why the Schmidt rumour in particular doesnt tally up.

Not sure that is a fair comparison necessarily; Robinson even at his peak often had an issue with long shots but that was made so much worse following his long spell out following complications with a back operation he had, subsequently getting a blood clot and putting on quite a bit of weight. Somewhat of a unique situation. I am not sure that Walton is a particularly good shot stopper to be fair, Raya had good reflexes but I dont think Waltons compare.

Our attack is statistically worse than our defence this season and that is with Dack included.

Bennett is not a competent Championship central midfielder. Evans is nothing special but is far more capable there. Bennett is far too rash and is poor on the ball.

Only problem is we cant spend any money on these players as we already pissed it down the drain and/or FFP wont let us!

Surely you judge a manager on the signings he DOES make, not the ones he doesnt? Otherwise Arsene Wenger would have built the best team ever! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2923275/Cristiano-Ronaldo-Lionel-Messi-Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-superstar-XI-players-Arsenal-nearly-signed.html

I just find it very difficult to get excited about reverting back to the bargain bin after Mowbray has blown all of our money on rubbish. Putting the injured Dack to the side, his transfer record is absolutely dismal. Is that suddenly going to change? The German player was a vague rumour by one person without a name and then sort of puzzled together by another. We may well be about to sign him, I dunno. But for me it would seem a strange one for so many reasons. We need major reinforcements at both ends with Dack out to even think about the play offs. Will that happen? Seems not.

I stand by my views on Schmidt, a player loosely linked to us so may be untrue, and one I suspect neither of us has seen. I am almost sure that the 2nd Division in Germany is of a lower standard. But i stand by my other comments in terms of position, type of contract/duration of loan, settling in and inexperience. That doesnt mean I wont judge if and when he comes and plays. Why are we unable to compete financially with teams like Brentford or even Forest? We may as well give up if thats the case. We have spent over 15m this season and last and only made 3m-4m back. That said Mowbray seems to be of the opinion that money is scarce. With a flimsy defence and more pressingly an impotent attack, that is a worry. The season is likely to shortly fizzle out. You seem to be accepting and comfortable with us being uncompetitive in the market and bigging up every linked player.